Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-16
FINDING ACRES OF GOLD.

a BewIldering Story From the Far South
west-Drsams of Endless Wealth.
The city was thrown into such g spasm
of excitement few days since as is sell
dom Witnessed in any country over the
discovery of gold in the pumpiugs from
the artesian we'll on the plaZs in front of
the court house, says the Phoenix Ga
zette. 1t happened il this wise; sam
ueI d Sanders, ag Old resident OF this
place, and former piaG9F-miner Of Call
tor2iaj |as al ~ we, oeing nm az ar-
tesian water by Joseph Drew on CUn-
tract for the county, and on locking down
st The 'sst pumping it struck him that the
gravel Tas remarkably hne-Iooking pay
dirt. With the instinct of the prospector
strong upon him, ne took " iuse s. aat
sand and gravel ne could hold il one
hand, end, seeing wash basin standing
near,Went 10 the acequia, few steps dis
TAM, where he PANIED it out. When tle
little dab of sand and gravel was washed
to the proper state, there was about q
spoonful Of black sand literally specked
win gold.
1t was no TOOL gold, but the bright,
shining ore Itself, aud no pTOspeCtOr'S
1
were at least dozen OF the precious
pieces, ranging from pin point up 70 4
pin head in size. He then PANIED another
handful with ike success. The sand
pump being raised about that time Il
portion of its contents we're emptied
directly into the Washbasin, and taken TO
the ditch ard washed out, when there was
more gold in this than in either of the
and crowd began to collect to verify
with their own sight the wonderful dis
covery When the reporter got on lac
grounds the excitement was so great
that steam had 10 be shut off, and the
machinery was at standstilI. The crowd
ebbed and flowed to and from the well,
and soon the news had extended the
whole length of Washington street. The
estimates put upon the quantity Of
gold this pay dirt will yield to the
miners pan varied from So to 52G.
1t must De remembered that these est
mates were based upon the amount of
sand one could grasp with one hand,
which would be but small fraction of
the usual pau. As has been said above,
this showing did not consist of cOlOTs
that one would have to examine with a
glass to determine whether il was mica
or films of metal, but good, coarse. clean
gold, such as IN dIggings in California
would have sent people from San Diego
TO Del Norte as fast as steamers, rail
ways and stages could have sent them
along. This discovery is at Z depth of
forty-one feet below the surfSCe, and how
far above the bedrock TO one knows. It
may be one foot aud it may be twenty.
These facts show the immensely Of the
discovery and give faint idea of the
vast wealth that lies buried beneath the
Salt river valley. One foot depth
OF such pay-dirt under the courthouse
plaza represents millions of dollars.
What is the contracted space OF one city
block, three hundred feet square, com
pared with the whole valley from the Su-
perstitiOn mountains to the Gilssriyer, 3
breadth of from ten TO fifteen miles? That
the whole valley contains like material is
evidenced by the fact that wherever
wells have been sunk water has been
found in s similar stTatumiof coarse gray
el, boulders and qUiCksand, showing that
the subsOil au came from q common
source. Mr.. Sanders said that had ne
fifty feet square OF such auriferOus sand
he would have more money than all
Phoenix is worth.